Multichannel Attribution System for Offline Purchase Correlation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems struggle to accurately correlate offline purchases made in brick-and-mortar stores with online advertising views and clicks due to the lack of reliable offline purchase data.
Innovation Solution
A multichannel attribution system that monitors and correlates online activity with multichannel purchase data, including both online and offline purchases, using member identifiers to provide accurate and complete promotional product attributions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If online advertising tracking systems are used to correlate purchases with ad views, then online purchase attribution is improved, but offline purchase attribution deteriorates due to inability to obtain accurate offline purchase data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines online and offline purchase data into a unified multichannel attribution system. The system merges data from online advertising platforms with offline point-of-sale systems, enabling comprehensive tracking of customer journeys across both channels. This integration allows the system to attribute offline purchases to online ad exposures by matching customer identifiers and temporal sequences, resolving the information loss about offline purchases.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary attribution system that bridges online and offline data ecosystems. This intermediary layer uses customer identifiers (such as member IDs, device IDs, or hashed email addresses) as mediators to connect online advertising interactions with offline purchase transactions. The system processes and matches these intermediary identifiers to establish attribution relationships without requiring direct integration between disparate online and offline systems.
2Device complexity
If traditional single-channel attribution systems are used, then system complexity is reduced, but attribution completeness deteriorates by excluding offline purchase channels
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal attribution system that handles multiple purchase channels (online and offline) through a single integrated platform. The system is designed to process diverse data types from different channels using unified attribution logic, making it adaptable to various retail environments and purchase pathways. This multi-functional approach allows the same system to attribute both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar purchases to online advertising exposures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs dynamic attribution models that can adapt to different channel combinations and purchase scenarios. The system dynamically selects appropriate attribution windows, match criteria, and data processing methods based on the specific channel mix and purchase type. This dynamic behavior allows the system to maintain versatility across changing retail landscapes while managing complexity through adaptive rather than static configurations.
Data Source
AI summary
Examples provide for multichannel attribution of member-related offline purchase data with member-related online activity data associated with a featured item entry for an item featured on a webpage. An attribution manager correlates the offline purchase data associated with the featured item and items related to the featured item with the online activity data, such as views and clicks associated with the featured item entry. The attribution manager generates a multichannel attribution report including multichannel attribution data, including attribution level data and time window data. The attribution level data includes direct attribution data, complementary item attribution data and common brand attribution data. The time window data includes identification of a time window during which member purchase of instances of the featured item take place subsequent to member online activity associated with the featured item. The attribution report is presented to users via a user interface device.